Schwarzschild radius and curvature

TrickyDicky
Messages
3,507
Reaction score
28
In the Schwarzschild spacetime setting we have a vacuum solution of the Einstein field equations, that is an idealized universe without any matter at the geodesics that are solutions of the equations.
This spacetime has however a curvature in both the temporal and spatial component that comes determined by a constant of integration of the metric (\alpha) and that in the Newtonian limit is a function of mass, so that we can introduce a central mass parameter in order to solve problems such as Mercury preccession,etc. This is also known as Schwarzschild radius (r_s= 2GM/c^2), because it basically gives us a geometrized mass(x2 factor since we are at the Newtonian limit), a mass in terms of length.
If all this is basically correct, wouldn't follow from it that the r_s is a precisely the curvature radius of the 3-space parabolic hypersurface in the Schwarzschild manifold?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Not quite sure what you are getting at but the coordinate r does relate to the Gaussian curvature.
 
Passionflower said:
Not quite sure what you are getting at but the coordinate r does relate to the Gaussian curvature.

Sure, the coordinate r is a function of Gaussian curvature and radial distance, here I'm referring to the fact that in a spherically symmetric manifold like this one,the r_s that appears in the metric sometimes a 2\mu or 2m or 2GM/c^2 related to the idealized central mass seems to be precisely the intrinsic Gaussian curvature of the spatial part of the Schwarzschild manifold, (I seem to recall the curvature of a 3-space that is spherically symmetric is completely determined by its Gaussian curvature, maybe someone confirm it).
 
TrickyDicky said:
Sure, the coordinate r is a function of Gaussian curvature and radial distance, here I'm referring to the fact that in a spherically symmetric manifold like this one,the r_s that appears in the metric sometimes a 2\mu or 2m or 2GM/c^2 related to the idealized central mass seems to be precisely the intrinsic Gaussian curvature of the spatial part of the Schwarzschild manifold, (I seem to recall the curvature of a 3-space that is spherically symmetric is completely determined by its Gaussian curvature, maybe someone confirm it).
What consists of the spatial and temporal part of any spacetime solely depends on the choice of coordinates. There is no such thing as an objective spatial and temporal part of spacetime.
 
Passionflower said:
What consists of the spatial and temporal part of any spacetime solely depends on the choice of coordinates. There is no such thing as an objective spatial and temporal part of spacetime.

I'm centering on the usual line element for Schwarzschild vacuum solution. I'm not interested here in the real/unreal debate, it's just a simple question about differential geometry for a certain metric.
 
TrickyDicky said:
If all this is basically correct, wouldn't follow from it that the r_s is a precisely the curvature radius of the 3-space parabolic hypersurface in the Schwarzschild manifold?

More specifically I would say that the r_s (2m) in the Schwarzschild line element
ds^2=(1-\frac{2m}{r})dt^2-\frac{dr^2}{1-\frac{2m}{r}}-d\Omega^2
could be identified with the minimum Gaussian curvature (IOW the maximum curvature K) a specific central mass can produce in a Schwarzschild manifold. The total radius of curvature would of course depend on where we locate the test particle, that is, on the total distance from the central mass, so that at the limit at infinity of r the metric becomes Minkowski.
I'm not sure if I got this right, maybe someone knowledgeable in Riemannian geometry could confirm or correct?
 
Thread 'Can this experiment break Lorentz symmetry?'
1. The Big Idea: According to Einstein’s relativity, all motion is relative. You can’t tell if you’re moving at a constant velocity without looking outside. But what if there is a universal “rest frame” (like the old idea of the “ether”)? This experiment tries to find out by looking for tiny, directional differences in how objects move inside a sealed box. 2. How It Works: The Two-Stage Process Imagine a perfectly isolated spacecraft (our lab) moving through space at some unknown speed V...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. The Relativator was sold by (as printed) Atomic Laboratories, Inc. 3086 Claremont Ave, Berkeley 5, California , which seems to be a division of Cenco Instruments (Central Scientific Company)... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/relativator-circular-slide-rule-simulated-with-desmos/ by @robphy
Does the speed of light change in a gravitational field depending on whether the direction of travel is parallel to the field, or perpendicular to the field? And is it the same in both directions at each orientation? This question could be answered experimentally to some degree of accuracy. Experiment design: Place two identical clocks A and B on the circumference of a wheel at opposite ends of the diameter of length L. The wheel is positioned upright, i.e., perpendicular to the ground...
Back
Top